Albany, Taken from the East Side of the River

Inscribed bottom center: Albany; inscribed bottom right: Taken from the east side of the riverInscription

Descended in the Cole Family to Mrs. Florence H.Cole Vincent, the artist's granddaughter.Provenance

Albany Institute of History & Art PurchaseCredit

1940.21.1Accession number

This was a preparatory sketch for a large oil painting commissioned by a group of Albany citizens led by Isaiah Townsend. The painted mahogany panel was displayed in the cabin of the newly built USS Albany. Cole noted in a letter to Townsend that he had "made the public buildings rather more conspicuous than they appear in reality" and that he had not bothered to realistically represent the smaller buildings since "they are of so transitory a nature in an American city."Additional comments